KUCHING: The Sarawak government is exploring new oil and gas blocks onshore and offshore to ensure adequate volumes are available for Sarawak’s journey towards industrialisation.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said there was a pressing need to intensify localisation of gas supply and utilisation in the state.
“This is to further industrialise Sarawak in the next five to 10 years and for the state to increase high value downstream economic activities,” he said when officiating at the launch of the Action and Implementation Plan (AIP) for the Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on Monday (Feb 7).
He said that 70 per cent of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies in Malaysia came from Sarawak and yet it only consumed less than 5 per cent of the. country’s total production.
“Thus the state government has established the Sarawak Gas Roadmap (SGR) 2030 with the aim of localising 1,200 million standard cubic feet per day by 2030.
“There are 25 billion USD investment opportunities for the private sector to catalyse on our economy through various petrochemical downstream industries,” he said.
Abang Johari said that midstream petrochemical industries such as methanol, ammonia, hydrogen and polyethylene would further enhance the state’s existing downstream manufacturing ecosystem and create more business opportunities.
“Once implemented, Sarawak will create an additional 15,000 jobs in the oil and gas sector by 2030. Having petrochemical derivatives capacities also position Sarawak in the global manufacturing supply chain ecosystem,” he said.
The Sarawak government, he said, had also signed the Commercial Settlement Agreement (CSA) with Petronas on Dec 7, 2020.
“The CSA, among others, provides Sarawak with a greater share of revenues from oil and gas found in the state, and provides for a more active involvement by Sarawak in the oil and gas industry by creating and maintaining a stable, conducive business and investment environment for the sustainable growth of the oil and gas industry, both upstream and downstream in Sarawak,” he said.
Moving forward, he said that the state should also emphasise developing business models that focused on harnessing the value of our natural resources.
“The development of the industries shall be planned based on its upstream opportunities as well as its midstream and downstream productions and exportability.
“Hence, we invite private players and conglomerates to collaborate with us to unlock such opportunities,” said Abang Johari.
